Abi loves her Bee-bee!

Abi and cousin Alixis with their babies

Abi says a new word! On Monday she said "Baby" and has been saying it over and over again since. I bought her a new baby doll 3 weeks ago, and she is a very good mother to her baby (even if she carries her in a headlock all day). When Abi says it, it comes out more like "Bee-bee" and makes me and all her siblings laugh everytime. Saying "da" is still her favorite though.

Lost Stones

I really enjoy the pictures on the Lost Stones BLOG. I want to take up photography. I think I'm going to buy a new camera.

Divine '09 Video from FYM

Here's a great VIDEO from Holly Rigsby - quick workout that is intense. I didn't do this whole workout right now, being large with child, but I'm excited to put it to work in a few months.

Also, I agree with this BLOG POST that more cardio doesn't bring more results. I thought doing a half marathon last year would just melt away my baby weight. Although I did tone up a little, my weight remained the same, and even being a little leaner I still had 10 pounds to loose. After the half marathon I started going to cycling classes 3 times a week, those classes were an hour and 15 minutes long at 5:15 in the morning. That too didn't make me loose the weight. I believe in the FYM system, of doing short and intense sessions of cardio and in doing full body weight resistance. I know it's possible to get our bodies back to normal after pregnancy.

So the competition with myself is still on - after the baby's born, I'm gonna kick it in high gear and loose the baby belly and am going to be a size 6 and 130 lbs by December. Right now I'm at 174, and hope I can keep it there for the next month!

Trip to Yellowstone

The kids waiting to see Old Faithful

Last weekend we took a family trip to Yellowstone with my side of the family. I think it's the first time we've done a family trip like that with the Hibbert in-laws and cousins.

Here it goes!

Wesley got a little nervous as the water shot further into the air - he got up to run, but since the rest of us were holding our ground, his faith was slightly restored and he took a knee.

It was a lot of fun, I love my family. We stayed at the Gathering Place in Island Park, Idaho. It was a fun cabin big enough to hold my parents, 5 Hibbert siblings with 4 spouses, and 14 grandkids. We made lunches for the trips into the Park, and had breakfast and dinner at the cabin - many thanks to Aunt Amy who did most of the work there. I didn't get too many pictures, but Uncle Jared took care of that, we even had a DVD to watch of our trip the last night. I think my kids loved playing with cousins especially, and having snowball fights with Uncle Grant. It was fun to watch the night sky with Dad. I don't feel like I contributed too much to the party - the drive up kinda wiped me out I think and I was running low on energy the whole time. But I could sit around on the couch, so one of my highlights was watching Brian Regan with my siblings, he cracks me up. I don't have a stupid husband, quite to the contrary, but I love Brian's CLIP on "Stupid Husbands" especially the smirk he makes right here at the beginning, immitating a wife saying "My husband is so stupid..." Way funny. I also love THIS CLIP and have committed it to memory, cause I know I easily let minor things irritate me, so now I'm gonna say "Nah! We haven't even had a man on the moon yet! Why would I let something like this bother me?" So that was fun to watch those videos with my siblings and their spouses. I'll post a few more phots later.

Helping with Yard Work

After Hyrum left for school this afternoon, I stayed outside with Abigail and Wesley to do a little bit of spontaneous yard work - I recently purchased some hedging shears and a hand pruner. I was trimming down some bushes while Wes rode his bike and Abi pushed her baby stroller. After seeing the exciting things I was up to, Wesley wanted to help. I gave him the shears and helped him trim, but they were too big for him. So then I went and got the pruners for him to play with. I don't worry about him cutting himself, so I didn't have any concerns. I went to change where the sprinkler head was watering, and when I came back, I saw that Wesley had moved from hedging the bushes (which are so big and out of control that he really couldn't have gone wrong cutting those so again, I wasn't worried...) but as I turned to rejoin him with our clipping, I saw he had pruned the heads off of my pot of geraniums that I planted a week ago. My first attempt while at this house at beautifying our yard, and that is the help I get! "No-no-no-no-no!!!" I said. Wesley tried to defend his actions by saying "But I don't like flowers!!" I think it was just an excuse. But it was an honest mistake, he was just clipping away, not knowing the difference between bush and flower. So I'm learning about yard work with kids - I thought it would have been obvious, but now I shall proactively teach them to value flowers.

Small Miracle - A Decent Bedtime!

A picture from August 2008 - when all the kids were in a room together cause we had our friends from Argentina staying with us in the basement.

Ok, I am totally grinning ear to ear - I have just reached a major personal and family victory - It is 9:30 pm and ALL my kids are in bed!!!! It might help that Corey wasn't here to tell them stories... You know me, I'm the no-fun Mom who longs for a schedule. At the same time I know that a lot of the precious moments I enjoy with my family come from the chaos of our life. Still, it would be nice if a schedule was in place and the norm. So here we go: I'm setting a 9:00 teeth-brushed/family prayer/scriputre time followed by a "heads on pillows" time at 9:30.

Tonight to get the kids attention for my new game plan, I came into the front room holding and crinkling in my hands the wrappers of 6 fruit snacks with different themes - Sponge Bob for Joe and Ethan, Strawberry Shortcake for Mel, Nemo for Hyrum, Cars for Wes, and Disney Princess for Abi. The crinkling of the wrapper got their attention very quickly, which I already knew would happen from previous experience. As they held out their hands for a treat, I put the snacks in their drawers, and told them the fruit snacks would be there in the morning for the kids that were in bed at 9:30. They paid attention for scriptures, were reverent for prayer, and brushed their teeth quickly, and I sent them downstairs at 9:15. I brushed my teeth and took care of my night time routine, and Wes came upstairs for help getting some sand out of his eyes - those nuggets of dirt had kept hidden from the previous washing of the eyes - that's the risk a child takes for playing in the sandbox with 1 year old cousins at Grandma and Grandpa Wride's house who like to throw dirt. I helped him get that out of his red eyes, took him downstairs to tuck him in, and to my delight and surprise, all kids were asleep (or pretending to be - that works for me!) with their Christmas night lights plugged in and scripture scouts on the CD players. Wow! Fruit snacks do the trick! Atleast they did for tonight - we'll see if I can pull this off more than once, I'll let you know how tomorrow night goes!

Trampoline

We got this Trampoline on craigslist last fall for $50. Best $50 I've ever spent. The trampoline is not the best of quality, but that is good cause the kids don't get too much height and Corey and I don't care if it gets ruined cause it already had little holes wearing in it. Abi loves the trampoline. After the older kids go to school, Abi pulls me to the back door and we head outside. I read my scriptures in the chair while she jumps away. Hyrum and Wesley usually come out to join her. She has learned really good balance with the other kids bouncing her off her feet. It's so fun, it's pure joy to watch her jump. She is so cute.

Cleaning Tip: Getting Boogers off the Walls

In a nutshell - to get dried boogers off the wall:
1) get a handfull of toilet paper and get it wet
2) tear off a little piece of wet tp and cover the booger
3) wait 10 - 20 minutes depending on thickness of the booger
4) easily wipe it off

(If you're here in 2026 I'd love for you to leave a comment!)
boogers on wall how tons of boogers on wall booger on
Please let me know if you try it and how it goes!
boogers off the wall
As Sid the Sloth says on Ice Age... "Humans are disgusting." That's what I've been thinking tonight as I helped Ethan with one of his chores - we're on a Booger hunt. Why do kids have to wipe their noses on the wall? I mean honestly, it is really that difficult to go get a tissue? It's really annoying when you find the boogers on the wall right by the toilet paper dispenser. I'm not sure the psychology behind their thinking.
boogers off the wall
But I have found a way to minimize the stress of cleaning them all off - and with 6 kids with active fingers, we almost have full time booger art going on here. Here's the tip which was Ethan's chore tonight - put wet toilet paper on all the boogers on the walls. Corey later asked me about the tp on the walls. I explained that Ethan and I were trying to soften up the snot so we could get it off without chipping off the paint or spending 10 minutes rubbing a hard booger with no sign of it budging. Corey was amazed at my creativity. "Brilliant! How do you think of these things?" I'm just a natural! It just came to me one day as I was washing walls - instead of trying to let it soak with a washcloth which I would have to hold there, I went and got a little bit of tissue wet in water, and it stuck right on the wall like a spit wad, where it softens up the kid booger until you're ready to wipe it clean. I still have a few wads on the wall that I need to go find, but since they've been soaking for an hour, it's a quick and easy job. Ta-Da!
boogers off the wall cat snot off the wall 

Hyrum Conquers the Mountain

On Friday, Hyrum went skiing for his first time. Corey has taken the kids skiing a few times up at Alta for the "Ski for Free after 3" special that they have. He has taken Joe, Mel, Ethan, and Wesley all before, but each time Hyrum has refused to participate, crying "It's too scary!" Friday around 2 Corey was at work and called to asked if he could take the kids - Joe was at scouts, Mel had achievement days, so I said it would just be Ethan and Wes, unless I could talk Hyrum into it. I got the snow pants and winter gloves out and told the others to get ready as I tried to bribe Hyrum with everything and anything...

"If you go, maybe Dad will buy you a Ben 10 watch?"
"He won't."
"Ok, I'll buy you a Ben 10 watch!"
"No."
"I'll give you ten dollars!"
"No."
"What do you want - name your price..."
"I'm not going skiing."

I gave up and helped Ethan and Wes finish getting dressed. I thought Corey could just grab Hyrum and force him into the car and make him go, but I also know that if Hyrum isn't a willing participant, there would be no way it would be a good experience - force doesn't work on him. So as I was helping them get ready, Hyrum asked if he could play the Wii.

"Nope. We're not doing anything fun here at home today."
"But then I'll be bored!"
"Well... then you should go skiing."
"NO! (a few seconds pause...) But I want to do something fun... How come they get to do something fun and I don't?!"
"You CAN do something fun! Hyrum, if you want to do something fun, you can go skiing! But if you don't want to do anything fun, you can stay home with me."

We went on in exchanges like this for a while, tried to resolve concerns - Looking out the window at the steep mountain sides at the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon, I thought he probably had a wrong idea of what "skiing down the mountain" would be like - I promised him it wouldn't be from the top on the mountain out there to the bottom - it was a small short hill, like sledding. He was crying and very sad, but finally, in tears and with a nose that was running, he gave up and said "Fine. I'll go skiing!" (So now I know - bribes of toys and money don't work, but his fear of being bored is great, even greater than his fear of skiing! I'll remember that for next time we're trying to get him to do something...)

Right then Corey walked in and he was so excited Hyrum was going to come, we helped him get ready, and quickly they were off.

Two hours later, Hyrum came home with a big smile. He conquered another of his many fears. He's our little cowardly lion. He's built like a tank - he should be the strongest and bravest of our children, but ironically needs much coaxing. He took a good step today. He was afraid cause he didn't know what it would be like, and this evening confessed that skiing wasn't scary. Another victory for experience!

Divine '09 Tip - "Banish the Barbie Weights"

This tip is sponsored by my email FYM coach Holly Rigsby (I don't think I'll ever be as skinny as her, but I love her arms) - She tells the truth about Women, Weights, and getting Bulky:

"Seems that women are still unable to get past the fear of picking up a heavy weight. Are you looking to just lose some fat and look more lean and toned - but do not want to gain muscle?

Weights and muscle - not in your fat loss plans? If so, I must break it you - you will have a VERY hard time seeing any type of fat loss. See what I am talking about... http://getfitandyummy.com/blog/women-weights-and-bulk/

Photos, videos, real examples... I hope this helps drive the point home that you will not bulk up if you use heavy weights."

Easter Message

My awesome brother, Neil, works for the Church and helps make the "Mormon Messages" videos every week. HERE is link to the wonderful message made for Easter. It is a short version of the General Confernect talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland last week, but delivered with touching music and footage from some Church films.

A - bi

I am here at my computer wasting time, nothing urgent or anything, just checking email, reading some family and friend blogs, and scanning the news. Abi usually doesn't let me sit alone, so she'll come over to the table and get up on a chair and slowly start to draw her little pointer finger to the power button. "Nooo..." I say. How does she know the worst button to push? So one method of getting her distracted from me at the computer is to open the fridge - she likes to hang out in the fridge. So she started bringing me the items within her reach. I now have the following items surrounding me and my laptop here at the table: a gallon of milk (1/3 full), Aloe Vera juice, two bottles of salad dressing, Mayonnaise, a package of shredded cheese, and two packages of ham. With each item she says "Da-Da.." sounding like "Here y'go..." To which I'd reply "Da-da!" in the tune of "Thank you!"

"Da" and "Da-da" are the only things she says regularly. Da-da is pretty much the word for everything, except when Corey comes home from work, she excitedly calls out as she pitter-pats to the kitchen/garage doorway "DAAA!!!!!" to which Corey replies "AAAA!!!" "Da" short for Da-ddy, "A" short for A-bi. Corey says it makes his day, warms his heart, to have her sweet greeting home. I get my little heart warming greeting from her in the morning - I'll send in one of the kids to get her out of her crib, and when she comes into the kitchen she gives my thigh a tender embrace. I love her leg-hugs. She is pure joy.